1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of anti-fraud devices adapted for use with attendant controlled parking lots or fare collection systems.
2. The Prior Art
In any situation where a fee or a fare is to be collected for the use of a facility a potential exists that not all of the fees actually collected will be delivered to management. This problem is made more difficult by the fact that the members of the public, from whom the fees are usually collected, often have no motivation or interest in insuring that each use fee paid is actually turned over to the management of the facility. One system designed to deal with this problem is a pedestrian control system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,751.
Where the facility is a parking lot with parking assigned on a weekly or longer basis, systems have been developed wherein parking gates control the entrance to or egress from the lot. A person authorized to park at the facility can open the gates by use of a key card. Such systems as those shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,842,876; 4,016,679, incorporated herein by reference, work well where a relatively stable population uses the facility on a long term basis.
Other parking lot systems have been developed wherein coins are inserted into an exit coin mechanism connected to a barrier or gate. When the correct amount of coinage has been deposited, the gate is opened and the user can drive through. Such systems have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,735,202; 2,741,859; 2,874,819 and 2,906,505, all incorporated herein by reference.
Additionally, where an attendant is required in a toll booth, elaborate fraud prevention systems have been developed which include remote audit panels, vehicle sensors and electrical circuits to insure that each exiting car is charged a fee corresponding to the time interval during which it was parked at the facility. One such system is disclosed in the specification and figures of U.S. Pat. No. 3,317,892, incorporated herein by reference. In the system of the '892 patent, a traffic light is switched from red to green permitting a vehicle to exit the facility when an attendant totals up the fee due on a cash register. When a motor in the cash register is cycled, a switch is closed by the rotating shaft of the motor which then turns the traffic light to green. Other systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,090,941 and 3,575,586, also incorporated herein by reference.
In other systems in public use, a cash register-parking gate combination is used to minimize fraud. One such system noted in U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,718 incorporated herein by reference utilizes an exit gate opened at the completion of the transaction so that the vehicle may depart.
Such cash registers are conventional and are shown in the '892 patent and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,539, incorporated herein by reference. Additional cash register latch mechanisms are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,855,432 and 4,101,745, both incorporated herein by reference.
In a known system in public use a switch which actuates a raisable parking gate is held in an open condition by a rear portion of the cash drawer in the cash register. Depressing the "Total" key on the register records the transaction and releases the cash drawer which then opens as is conventional.
When the drawer is released, it moves away from the gate control switch. The switch then closes signalling the gate actuator to raise the gate thereby permitting the car to exit. As the car leaves, it rides over a pavement switch which recloses the barrier such as shown in the '876 patent.
The attendant then deposits the collected fees into the cash drawer and recloses the drawer. When the drawer is reclosed in the prior art system, it reopens the gate control switch. Attention has been given in the art to developing means to sense when the drawer has been fully latched closed as shown in the '432 and '745 patents.
I have found that there exist substantial opportunities to defraud the parking lot management in the known attendant controlled systems. In my investigations, I have discovered that the attendants often do not close the cash drawer completely after a transaction. The attendants have discovered that the gate control switch is engaged and reopened by the end of the drawer shortly before the drawer is relocked. Thus, an attendant can push a drawer almost closed engaging the switch and resetting gate actuator. When the next car approaches the attendant's booth, the attendant need not recycle the cash register. Instead, the attendant merely pulls open the drawer thus permitting the switch to close, signalling gate actuator to raise the barrier. After paying the unrecorded parking fee, the car can exit reclosing the barrier and the attendant would pocket that fee.
I have also discovered that the relationship between the drawer and the switch can not be reliably adjusted so that the switch can not be reopened without latching the drawer closed. The ability of an attendant to open the barrier without registering a collected fee represents a loss of thousands of dollars a month to parking lot owners.
Even the use of remote fee displays or the requirement that a stamped time ticket be inserted into the register each time a fee is rung up, both disclosed in the '892 patent, are no protection where the attendant is able to manipulate the barrier as described above.
Thus, there continues to be a need for a system to open parking facility barriers that is inexpensive, reliable, adaptable to all cash registers without extensive modifications and not manipulatable by the attendants.